Path of the Hive Queen

The Esemen army moved on after just shy of two weeks in Prekan.

It fell well within Ben's estimate, although Regina knew he had hoped for it to take a bit longer. Especially since the Esemen appeared to have done quite well at recovering from their losses and securing new ground.

She wasn't a general (as she kept saying), but Regina was pretty sure that it should not have been possible for an actual early modern army to bounce back this well. With losses this high, an army should have probably dissolved, and even if not, it should have seen higher rates of desertion than they had observed with their scouting drones. Which didn't even consider how quickly they'd managed to secure the burned-down city, construct new fieldworks, and all that.

Most likely, the Esemen had some Champions that could work as logistics support. These Champions had probably rallied their men and kept their morale high (she wanted to say 'artificially high', but that would be a bit hypocritical), possibly with special abilities as well.

Regina didn't like what it implied. She'd grown to rely on the idea of the Empire having the more disciplined forces, especially considering the Hive; having the logistics advantage, professional soldiers, the generally quality and the quantity of Swarm Drones. Of course, it wasn't surprising, either, considering her enemies had Champions as actual divine support (and possibly more?), and the Esemen weren't idiots and would know war was won in people's hearts more than anything.

Fortunately, Regina was also confident of her people's loyalty, and that the Empire would rally behind her government and stay like that. She didn't want to call it 'propaganda' … but she'd certainly kept up with efforts to disseminate information across the country. Building schools, creating a new bureaucracy, and even newspapers — which were free to print what they wanted within the boundaries of liberal laws against slander, misinformation and hate speech, but they were also often essentially required to print government press releases, royal speeches and the like. Regina thought that was a good compromise.

She even kept tolerating that weirdo cult that was worshiping her. (Honestly.)

She was reminded of it right now, seeing several symbols that could be ambiguous, but also could be related to it as she saw the Delvers' brand-new headquarters in New Anberg. From what she knew, few Delvers were outright members of that cult, but there was certainly sympathies among some groups of the Order.

Still, Regina tried to put it out of her mind as she walked through the corridors of the headquarters to meet one of their leaders, who she was at least rather sure was not one of these people. Of course, she was accompanied by several Star Guard soldiers and the Delvers made the whole visit a bit more of a production than it needed to be. She didn't mind the chance to catch up with them, but some of the pomp could have been cut. Well, she wouldn't begrudge them showing off their new digs. Due to, basically, seniority and because they'd supported her loyally, the Delvers had finagled a spot in the center of the city for it, and had raised a neoclassical marble edifice that actually wouldn't have looked too out of place among historic buildings in Anberg. They'd also left room for an elevator to be installed across from the stairs.

As she approached the meeting room, Regina focused on the people she was here to meet. Obviously, it wasn't just the Seer; that was fine, she'd expected it. She had things to discuss with the Delver leadership, anyway.

They all stood up and bowed when she entered the room. Regina nodded at them. "Thank you for inviting me, ladies and gentlemen. Please, sit down."

She sat in the largest chair at the head of the table, looking at the gathered Delver leaders. She knew all of these people already. Many of the higher-ranking Delvers had joined the army and were currently away (or, well, Madris had left, too), but there were still a few left to be here.

"Thank you for honoring us with your presence, Your Imperial Majesty," the Commander replied with a nod. "What do you think of the new building?"

Regine replied with praise and they engaged in a bit of small talk for a few minutes. She took the opportunity to assess their mental states, finding nothing of concern. Alix Castaway was still wearing his blindfold, which made his expression harder to read, but luckily, she wasn't reliant on that, even if he did have rather good mental shields.

"You must be quite busy with many matters," Gwen noted finally, moving the conversation along. "Is there anything we may help with?"

"Yes, there are several things I intended to discuss."

"Truthfully, so did we." Gwen ignored Trito's slightly chiding glance, continuing unconcernedly, "There are rumors in the ministry regarding current plans, including a restructuring and, apparently, a tax hike?"

Regina inclined her head. "I would prefer not to raise taxes in the middle of a war, but I must."

"Of course, war is expensive," Commander Rodrick nodded solemnly.

"It is more than that. A lot of the money will be going to the new ministry of public works. After the temples were shut down, regrettably, some charitable enterprises were bereft of support or funding. The government will be stepping into that gap. The Empire will fund or found new hospitals, almshouses and the like."

They all nodded in understanding, and she could sense the positive reaction to her words around the room. There wasn't much surprise, though.

Regina had been aware the temples had some charitable 'missions' like that, though nothing like what the Church maintained in actual medieval times. Apparently, it was still more than she'd quite realized, though. The Empire had already stepped in to cover some costs, but it was better to put it on more stable footing with a new structure and to lay the groundwork for expanding everything into a proper social support system, like any state needed. They would need some financial policy adjustments, too, to set up a proper retirement system and pensions, but ensuring healthcare and the like came first.

Like more hospitals. So far, Regina had admittedly focused more on raising the quality of care that was already available, and perhaps the number of practitioners. A proper system with wide coverage and ensuring care wasn't contingent on a patient's personal finances would come next. She felt vaguely guilty about not having done more in that regard already, even though she knew she'd needed to prioritize.

(But she'd sworn an oath to treat people who needed it, and somehow, this felt like part of it considering her current position and power.)

"That is quite true," Alix said, sounding serious. "We have had to take in more children since then."

"Not that we object to the measure, far from it," Rodrick added.

Regina managed to control the urge to wince. "Yes, orphanages are certainly among the institutions needed," she agreed. She smiled slightly. "Not that I don't appreciate the Order taking in children in need, and I will not interfere with your ability to raise them."

She wasn't sure exactly how many of their recruits the Delvers got that way, but there had to be a reason the name Castaway wasn't too rare among them. While it might be considered problematic in some way, Regina didn't really object to the practice. Delvers could leave, and the kids wouldn't really be more 'indoctrinated' into an 'ideology' than anyone with religious parents. Orphans or children whose parents didn't want or couldn't afford to support them would certainly be better off this way than the alternative. Though of course, her planned government-sponsored orphanages would have to come to an agreement with the Delvers.

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"That is a relief to hear," Rodrick said. "We would be happy to provide any advice or expertise to whoever is charged with building new orphanages, my Empress. There are some among us, especially those retired from a more active life, who have a wealth of experience in this matter."

"I will gladly take you up on that offer," Regina smiled. "Expect my secretaries or the ministry to be in contact."

They spent a little more time talking about the details, and Regina took note of how the Delvers felt. Still largely at ease, good. There was a bit of anxiety, and she wasn't too surprised when they tried to steer the conversation back to the tax increases.

Of course they would try to get exemptions or some kind of deal to lower their taxes. Regina remained noncommittal on that point. She would be considering it, but she didn't want to give them false hope, and she'd want professional analysis before she made a decision, anyway; which meant letting her people at the Ministry of Finance do their work first.

She could tell the Delvers weren't too pleased with it, but at least Gwen seemed unconcerned and the others mostly relieved that she hadn't flat-out told them she was going to raise taxes on them heavily. Not for the first time, she wondered at how far they were willing to follow her when it came to personal costs and sacrifices. Although most people seemed to take the news of higher taxes in stride, almost having expected it; raising taxes in wartime wasn't exactly new around here. And she'd generally set Imperial taxes low to encourage development, anyway.

"This is all well and good," Alix finally said. "But it's not the only reason we are here, is it? You wanted to speak to me, my Empress?"

Regina nodded, then stopped since she wasn't sure if he could see it. "Yes. I was wondering about your impressions of the war and if you have seen anything concerning the future or what might be hidden from us."

The old Seer frowned. "You know my Ability in that regard is capricious and fickle. I would not rely too much on it."

"Of course, but I'd still like you to try."

He sighed. "I have already tried, a little. Admittedly, I was mostly concerned with the current course of the war. I doubt I have seen much regarding it that your information network would not have given you, however." He paused, turning as if to look at the others. "Your Imperial Majesty, do you trust everyone here?"

Regina glanced at them as well, hesitating. "Perhaps we should speak in private," she said. She would have preferred that anyway. "It's not that I distrust anyone in this room, but it is only good procedure. What you do not know, you cannot accidentally reveal or give to an enemy psychic should you meet one in the war."

"Of course, we understand," Gwen assured her. She stood, the others shuffling their chairs as they followed, and bowed. "We will give you the room, Your Imperial Majesty, Seer."

Rodrick raised an eyebrow slightly, but turned. "As Gwen said. Please call on us if you have any further need."

"Of course. It is appreciated."

They waited until the other Delvers were gone and she sensed them moving away. Regina even checked for any lingering magic, grateful that at least there wouldn't be any electronic bugs. At least not ones subtle enough to be hidden.

"I assume this means you saw something?" she asked.

"Several things." Alix tapped his fingers on the table a few times before stopping. "They were hard to understand even by my standards. I suspect at least one of them might not even be of relevance to us at all."

Regina frowned slightly. "Then why would you see it?" She didn't know the details of how his Ability worked, but the System or something else must be guiding it, right? Since he usually saw things at least vaguely connected to his current place and time. Or so she thought.

Alix shrugged slightly. He was slumping a bit more than in the meeting, she noticed, perhaps deciding not to bother with putting up a front. "I saw, once, a large carpet of candles stretching into the distance, some of them floating above or below the ground, some of them flickering and some of them burning steadily, and a red stain that had been spreading out from a certain spot, dyeing the surrounding candles. Except one candle was a world and it shone brighter than the sun."

Regina blinked. "Poetic."

"Yes. I would suggest the candles were all worlds, in which case I saw the greater universe."

"What happened?" Regina asked eagerly.

"Much and little. It was hard to understand. There were several candles of different colors, the colors spreading and occasionally changing, butting against each other. At least the red area was contained, not growing further." He tapped his fingers again. "There were a few candles that had been snuffed out. One was in the heart of the blue area, but it seemed like there was still the slightest of embers in its wick; please do not ask me how it works, I do not know. Another empty candle was farther away and it felt significant, but distant."

"That's …" Regina trailed off, unsure what to say.

"Yes, possibly unhelpful," he said drily. "At least it would suggest that these 'Mesen' will not move in our direction and that we do not have to worry about them invading our world. That is worth something, I would say."

"True," she agreed. "What do you know of them?"

"Little more than the name. Although I have not had a vision such as this before; perhaps something has changed. You might ask your friend Leian — I also had a brief glimpse of a female figure moving through a large, glowing doorway in space, strange stars on the other side. Perhaps she traveled and the brief connection granted me that vision. Who knows?"

Regina exhaled heavily. It was becoming clear that the Seer knew a lot more than he'd been letting on, but with a power like that, it really wasn't surprising. She wondered with a spike of unease how much he was hiding from her.

"You didn't have any further visions that might shed some light on it?" she asked.

"I do not believe so. Although I did see Leianaleine again, briefly, or so I believe. She was standing in a hall made of clouds holding some sort of curved sword. Alianais entered as well, but unfortunately, the vision cut off at that point. I saw Deirianon and what I suspect is the rest of his faction's gods, though I hadn't seen them all before — they were looking down from a marble palace onto a playing field with small soldiers, moving figures and tiny constructs, and poking some of them."

"Thank you," Regina replied with another nod. "That part seems rather obvious, and not very surprising, but it's still good to know."

"Of course, it is my pleasure. There was another vision as well." Here, he actually hesitated for a moment.

"Yes?"

"This one was more … concrete." The Seer's tone felt forbidding. "I saw underground tunnels, and though I have only seen them once or twice before, I know it was the halls of the Eternal Dark. There was the clashing of swords and the screams of the wounded and dying. Halls ran red with blood. And there was a sound of bells, high and clear, and boots marching in step, and cries of jubilation and victory and liberty. I saw dark figures working on wooden contraptions and molten metal being poured into large frames, and I heard two single cannon shots. I saw a map of the Eternal Dark, crumpled, and a star drawn around one city and a pin placed in it, though I couldn't read the names, and the pin was a large tower the people were erecting above the ruins of a grand building, singing as they worked."

Regina swallowed slightly. That painted a clear picture, and she did not like what it implied, especially the first part. It would be good to know who was going to win this apparent war, though — the vision didn't exactly seem totally clear.

"Please keep in mind there is no telling when this might happen, if it will at all, my Empress," he warned her. "I have tried to find out more, to find any solid detail, which is why I haven't informed you before." He frowned again, glancing down. "There was one more vision. Please do not take it too seriously, it was different and less solid than the others."

"I will," she said mechanically.

"It depicted your teacher Madris. She was walking up a staircase made of bones and skulls. The singing returned with a darker timbre, like chanting, and when she reached the top she tore open the sky, which was dark and might have been stone, and she was given a blood-soaked sceptre, and endless ranks of soldiers knelt before her. She raised standards and the people cried out in joy, and they kept constructing the building, raising her staircase of bone. And there was Armin and two people who looked vaguely like her, a young woman and an old man. She gave them pendants of gold and crystal, but Armin had blood on his clothes where his heart would be, and his shadow almost swallowed him."

Well, that might answer my question in a more horrifying way, Regina thought distantly.

"But the edges of this vision were wavy, which I have learned likely means it is hardly guaranteed to be realized, just something that might happen," Alix added. "What matters is the actions people take, they will determine what happens."

Regina clasped her hands together, nodding and closing her eyes for a moment. "Thank you for the warning, and for the information, Seer Alix," she said. She sighed. "I was going to ask you to keep trying for more information …"

"Of course. I will do as you wish."

"I was also going to ask for information on the enemy army to the west," she muttered, "and I wanted to discuss the technology your order has hoarded."

"Perhaps a short break for a drink?" he suggested gently. "I am feeling quite thirsty. Then I would be happy to scry where you command and share the results."

Regina managed a smile. "That sounds good. Thank you."

She made sure she remembered every word he'd said, then shoved the knowledge down to pick apart later when she was alone. She still had goals to meet for consulting with the Delvers. Clearly, there wasn't much she could do right now about any of this anyway.